Toddler Trouble
by TwilightFairy928
Summary: Because of one of Vexen's experiments, several of the Organization XIII members have been turned into kids! So, it's up to the rest of the Organization to take care of them. Xion is included in this story second chapter on . Sequel to 'Growing Down'.
1. The Organization XIII Toddlers

-Toddler Trouble-

Chapter I

-The Organization XIII Toddlers-

A calm, silent darkness was interrupted by a small noise. Vision blurred, then clearing, the young nobody groaned, realizing it was morning, so soon. He had been sleeping peacefully- until that one, small sound disturbed him. Rubbing the side of his face, it occurred to him, much to his disgust, that a fair amount of saliva had firmly stuck to his face over night.

Stretching, a flash of red passed by the very corner of his eye. The nobody glanced in that direction, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. Crawling out of his warm bed- much against his will, but he had no choice- he gave the room one last check before dismissing whatever he had seen, deciding that it was just because he was still tired. Such a reason made sense, he thought, as Organization XIII's usual task of battling the heartless was temporarily changed.

Because of one of Vexen's- the Organization's _mad scientist_- experiments, they had all been turned into toddlers and pre-schoolers. Most of them had returned to normal, fortunately, except a few- Zexion, Vexen, Luxord, Marluxia, even the Superior himself- Xemnas- who left his second in command, Saix, in charge. Even Axel hadn't turned back to normal yet.

The Key of Destiny's best friend. _This_ was the one he had to take care of. A, unfortunately, mischievous, four year old, red head. He was fairly calm at his real age, but he could a bit… hyper, as well as bad tempered at this age. The nobody, the thirteenth member of Organization XIII, sighed.

"What are you doing, Roxy?" a child's voice asked nearby. Roxas jumped, and spun around to see the little Flurry of Dancing Flames, staring up at him with large, innocent, green eyes.

"Um… I'm just… thinking," he replied with a shrug.

"You look sleepy," Axel noticed.

"How long have you been up?" Roxas inquired, wondering if he, perhaps, shouldn't have asked. It concerned him, lately, as to what his, at this point, tiny friend had been up to, without anyone to look after him.

"I dunno. A while," the little boy simply answered, attempting to imitate Roxas with an over exaggerated shrug.

"Well…" the other said, thinking, "I can see that your still in your pajamas, so I guess you haven't been up for very long… Although… _Can_ you still change clothes by yourself?"

"I can't figure out the zipper," Axel admitted, and added, "But… um, Roxy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry," he said, with an adorable pout. Roxas _knew_ that Axel knew that this was cute- something that this pre-schooler could use to his advantage. But then again, all of the little Organization XIII members could do that- even Vexen. But there were a few nobodies that they had learned that it didn't work on. Saix and Lexaeus, mainly. At times, that included Xaldin. When it came to Larxene, that innocent pout wouldn't work for Vexen. She never did like him, anyway.

"All right… but let me change first, okay?" Roxas sighed.

"'kay," Axel nodded cheerfully.

-------------------------------

Roxas stepped out of his bathroom, straightening the hood of his coat. To his relief- as well as shock- Axel sat patiently at the end of the bed, kicking his feet.

"You've _seriously_ been sitting here, the _whole_ time?" Roxas asked with disbelief. Axel nervously rolled his eyes, avoiding his gaze.

"What have you been into?" the teen inquired, frowning. Silence.

"_Axel?"_

"I… wanted to try on your boots…" the little red head admitted, "And I… I think broke 'em…"

"You… _what?!_ How did you do that?"

Axel crawled down off the bed, and timidly pulled the black boots out from under it. The tops of them bent limply off to either side.

"Their not broken!" Roxas laughed, "Their supposed to do that."

"…Really?" Axel let out a dramatic sigh of relief, then turned toward the portal-like door. Shouts could be heard beyond. A toddler Xemnas dashed into the room, giggling. Demyx appeared next, chasing after him.

"Get _back_ here!" the Melodious Nocturne called. Against his usual personality, Xemnas laughed playfully, dodging Demyx easily.

"Sorry, Roxas!" he quickly apologized, then pleaded, _"Slow down!"_

"You can't catch me!" the tiny Superior teased, "Try and catch me, Demy!" Demyx groaned in frustration.

"Xemnas… _please,"_ he begged, "I need to change you out of that sleeper, 'kay? So we can we have breakfast. You're hungry… right? I hope?" The toddler immediately stopped and fell back into a sitting position on the floor, clapping happily.

"Yeah, yeah! _Food!"_ he cooed, "Pick me up, Demy! _Pick me up!"_ With a heavy sigh, Demyx picked him up, Xemnas seated in his babysitter's arms, content.

"I'm _really_ sorry about this, Roxas," the blond apologized again.

"It's… it's fine," Roxas replied after a moment. With one last smile and a nod, Demyx departed with a now squirming Organization XIII Superior in his arms.

"I want a red sleeper," Axel suddenly said, having noticed Xemnas' green one, "Can I have a red one, Roxy?"

"Um… I guess," Roxas shrugged, "But never mind that right now. Let's go, alright?" Axel reached up and grabbed his hand. At that moment, it thoroughly occurred to him just how small his best friend was getting. It wouldn't be long until he was even too small to walk, or talk.

"We'll get you back to normal soon, Axel," he promised, under his breath.


	2. A Little Help

_Chapter II _

_-A Little Help- _

"_I don't want_ it!" Xemnas shrieked, shoving his plate away.

"But toast and eggs are _good_ for you," Demyx said helplessly, "And… and they taste great, too!"

"Nuh-uh! _Don't want it!"_ he protested, scrunching his face and shaking his head. Having observed this, Axel looked thoughtfully up at Roxas.

"_I_ like it…" he said softly.

"Um… okay, that's good," Roxas replied with a nod. He glanced up at the doorway leading to one of the many hallways. A familiar face looked back at him.

"Hey, Axel, wait here, okay? I'll be right back," he told the red head.

"Okay."

The blond pushed his chair away from the table, and stood up, with an apologetic smile, then made his way to the door. He stepped out of the room, and faced the girl who stood around the corner.

"Xion?" he said slowly, "Where have you been?" She timidly brushed her black hair behind her ear.

"You tried to run away again, didn't you?" he guessed, "And then you came back, probably because you were wondering why Axel didn't come after you, to bring you back here."

"Y-yeah," Xion replied nervously, "Er… what _did_ happened to… to Axel?"

"Oh, he's fine!" he assured her, seeing her expression of concern, "He just-"

"Who are those children?" she asked, glancing over his shoulder. Her eyes suddenly widened.

"Roxas, is that…? No, it can't be… _Is_ it…?" she stuttered.

"Axel?" he finished, biting his lip.

"You can't be serious," she gasped, "there's no way." Axel peered over the back of his chair, as if on cue.

"Xion!" he squeaked happily, but his expression changed to that of a pout as he approached the two.

"Where've you been?" the little boy asked firmly.

"You're _so cute!"_ Xion exclaimed, picking him up. Roxas could easily tell that it was to change the subject. Axel grunted in frustration and squirmed, when she nearly hugged the breath out of him.

"S-stop! Stop squishing me!" he pleaded, and looked, horrified, at Roxas.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Axel," she apologized, loosening her grip and rubbing his back.

"I-!" he tried to protest, but relaxed, and said, "That feels good… don't stop…" The fourteenth member of Organization XIII grinned. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"C'mon," he told them, "We gotta finish breakfast."

"Alright," she laughed softly, "Wait- he… aw, he fell asleep." The Key of Destiny looked at his friend's face. He was definitely asleep.

"So much for breakfast…" Roxas sighed.

-------------------------------

"So… this is all Vexen's fault?" Xion asked, after hearing Roxas' explanation. She glanced at the sleeping Axel, with pity for the little boy.

"Is there any way to turn him back to normal?" she asked.

"Well… the same thing happened to me," Roxas thought aloud, "so he should be back to his real age soon, I hope."

"But what if he doesn't? What if _we_ need to actually do something? I mean, just because _you_ turned back to normal, doesn't mean it will so easy for him."

She had just uttered the very questions which had been swarming through his head, for the past few days.

"I… I don't know," he mumbled, but an idea suddenly formed in his mind, "What about Vexen?"

"But, isn't he still small, too?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, but he might still have at least _some_ memory of how to reverse this mess!"

"So, one of us will go and see him, while the other stays here, with Axel," Xion decided. Roxas rolled his eyes, again.

"Okay, I _know_ that you want to stay here with him. Because he's _'so cute',_ right?" he teased.

"…Yes, if you don't mind, I'll stay here with him," she said, and added playfully, "Besides, I like him this way- don't tell him this later- because he's not only adorable, but he's not constantly chasing me down, trying to bring me back here by force."

"Then I'll see you later," Roxas replied with a smirk.

-------------------------------

"I'll need thome time to figure on how to thort it out," Vexen told Roxas, "However, I thuppothe that I'll need to fitth the problem before I'm too thmall to do anyfing…"

"What'll happen if you don't?" Roxas asked, "Won't you just turn back to normal, eventually?"

"Well, yeth, but it will take ath long ath it would for anyone _elthe_ to grow up," he explained, "And perthonally, I don't want to do all that all over again."

"Mm," the teen nodded, "So, how long will this take, do you think?"

"Well…" he said slowly, "I _fink_ that it might take at _leatht_ a few weekth."

"A few _weeks?"_ Roxas repeated, "Exactly how _little_ will you be by _then?"_

"There'th no way of knowing that!" Vexen replied seriously, "But thertainly too young to do anyfing… I'm guething, maybe, an infant?" Seeing the look on Roxas' face, he quickly added, "But Letthaeuth knowth what to do. _You_ jutht need to worry about Atthel until then." Zexion covered his mouth, stifling a laugh.

"It'th _not_ that funny!" Vexen screeched.

"That lisp'll help you get what you want, I think," Zexion pointed out, "Because everyone else seems to like it."

"Do you really fink tho? It hath been eathier to talk to everyone lately…" he noticed, "Or at leatht, they'll talk to me more."

"But, is there anything I can do to help Axel?" Roxas interrupted.

"No, not right now," Vexen said, "Jutht take care of him for a little while, okay?"

"Right…" he sighed, and added under his breath, "Great…" It wasn't that he didn't like the pre-schooler Axel, it's just that he could be a bit difficult, sometimes.

"Well… um, thanks," he simply said, leaving to return to Xion and Axel.

-------------------------------

Roxas entered his room to see Axel asleep, curled up in the pillows of the bed. Xion turned to him with a smile.

"I hope you don't mind," she said quickly, "But I let him sleep here. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine," he replied, "At least he's not as hyper as Xemnas. That's weird, isn't it, Xion? He's always so serious, and seems to think it's somewhat childish when any of _us_ act cheerful, at all. At least, normally…"

"Oh, he doesn't know any better, right now," Xion shrugged, "But that's what makes it so funny, isn't it? And Axel… He looks so sweet, just sleeping there, so innocently! What did Larxene think of them, being so little?"

"You're kidding, right?" he laughed, "She avoids Vexen at all costs, she picks on Xemnas all the time, at least, while she can, and… she doesn't seem to mind Axel all that much, actually."

"Right, right… That makes sense," she said, nodding, sitting down beside the toddler, she looked up at Roxas, asking, "So, what did Vexen say?"

"He says that he'll need some time."

She sighed. "How long?"

"A few weeks," he mumbled, as her jaw dropped.

"Will he be okay until then? Axel, I mean?" Xion gasped, "Or _any_ of them? For _that_ long?"

"They've lasted _this_ long, haven't they?" he pointed out, "But Vexen _did_ say that they might all be infants, by that time."

"Ah… Well…" she began, then offered, "I'll help you take care of Axel. You can just leave him to me, when you're busy! Besides, how hard can it be, to take care of such a little guy? I _know_ he can have a little bit of a temper, a times, but…"

"Believe me, you don't even know the _half_ of it," he thought.

-_Finally,_ I have this chapter up! Sorry it took so long... I hope everyone enjoyed it!- TwilightFairy928


	3. I'm Blind!

Chapter III

-"I'm Blind!"-

Roxas awoke the next morning to see a pair of vivid green eyes staring back at him curiously. Gasping, he jumped back, causing the little boy in front of him to shriek.

"Axel…!" Roxas groaned, "What is it _now?"_

"I wanted to see if you were awake yet, Roxy," he replied innocently, putting his hands behind his back. He began swaying back and forth impatiently.

"I wanna play," he finally said, "Wanna play hide-and-seek?"

"Axel…" Roxas sighed, rolling over to glance at his clock. Narrowing his eyes, he turned back to the tiny red head.

"It's 4 o'clock in the morning," he said, "Go back to bed."

"No. Wanna play," Axel said firmly, the pout forming on his face again.

"Maybe in a few hours…" Roxas mumbled, "It's not even light out…"

"It's _never_ light out here…!" Axel whined, "I'll _never_ get to play! I wanna play _now."_

"But, I'm too tired right now," he explained, then suggested, "Maybe Xemnas is up. Go play with _him,_ instead." The little boy sighed deeply.

"Okay… But I wanna play with _you,_ later, Roxy," he said.

"Later…"

Roxas closed his eyes, and drifted back to sleep.

-------------------------------

The Key of Destiny was rudely awakened by a scream of absolute horror. He sat bolt upright, listening to cries of his small friend.

"_I'm blind! I'm blind!"_ Axel screamed, running into the room.

"What's wrong?!" Roxas asked urgently, jumping out of his bed, and picking up the panicked pre-schooler.

"_I'm blind!"_ he wailed again.

"_What happened?"_ the blond said seriously.

"I went to see Xemnas and Demyx, like you said, Roxy, but- but- _It was horrible!"_ he cried.

"What was?"

"When I went in there…" he took a deep breath, "...Demyx was _changing Xemnas' diaper!_ And now I'm _blind,_ Roxy!" It was all Roxas could do not to laugh as he picked up the little guy.

"Can't imagine how bad _that_ must have been for you, Axel," he simply said, deciding to play along. The red head buried his face into his friend's shoulder. At that moment, Xion ran in, dressed in a pastel pink night gown, her feet bare. Roxas had to force himself not to laugh at her, too, particularly to see her hair poking in all directions at once.

"What happened?!" she exclaimed, panting.

"Axel just had…" he thought for a moment, then finished, "…a bad experience."

"Like what?"

"Like seeing Xemnas getting his diaper changed," Roxas replied with a snicker.

"Oh, poor _baby!"_ she cooed, smoothing Axel's hair. Roxas rolled his eyes as Axel gazed at her pitifully.

"Whatever," the blond simply said, handing him to Xion, "Since I'm up, now, I'm gonna get breakfast."

"This early?" Xion wondered aloud.

"Yeah, why not?" he shrugged, exiting the room. She followed after.

"Well, then," she said, "You do that, and I'll take care of Axel, okay?"

"Sounds good to me…"

"Besides, his hair is looking a little messy," she noticed.

"Yeah, uh, you should look in a mirror yourself," he almost said, but stopped himself, closing his mouth.

-------------------------------

He rushed to the kitchen, and upon entry, he realized that Vexen was there, as well.

"Erm, morning, Vexen," he greeted the young scientist.

"Good morning, Rokthath," he replied, spitting as he spoke, "I wath having trouble thleeping. What about you?"

"Axel woke me up," Roxas explained.

"Ith that what that thcreaming wath?" he asked, and added, "I _thought_ that thounded like Atthel."

"Yup," the other nodded. Vexen was much nicer as a child, he thought. "So… what are you eating?"

"Oh, thith?" Vexen pointed at the bowl, "Thith ith thereal. I like thereal."

"You do? I didn't know that."

"Yeth. But _never_ put orange thoda in your thereal. It doethn't tathte very good," he advised, "Or at leatht, _I_ don't fink tho…"

"…okay," Roxas replied slowly, "I'll… have to remember that."

"Bad ekthperienthe," Vexen explained, adding, "By the way, we _might_ be able to turn back to normal thooner than I thought."

"Really?!" he asked excitedly.

"Well, _maybe._ The fing that I'm building to reverthe all thith ith working much fathter than I imagined."

"So… how long do you think it will be, now?"

"A couple of weekth, or more. _'More'_ ath in a few more dayth than that, that ith," he explained.

Roxas sighed with relief. "Good. I can't wait 'til-"

"_Vexen!"_ someone shouted angrily from the doorway. It was Lexaeus.

"Uh-oh!" Vexen gasped, then said to Roxas, "I fink Letthaeuth ith mad at me for getting up- and leaving to get breakfatht- thith early. Without him knowing it." He ran a small hand through his hair nervously.

"I'll thee you later, I thuppothe," he added quickly, and after jumping down, ran off. Lexaeus caught him with one arm grumpily and slung the boy up onto one of his massive shoulders. With that, he simply left, Vexen squeaking with obvious fear.

Roxas rested his head thoughtfully on his fist. He wondered what Xion and Axel were doing. He hoped that Xion hadn't put his friend's red hair in bows. Probably not, he figured. Maybe if _Larxene_ was still little… He smirked at the thought of Larxene's hair absolutely _covered_ in pink bows.

He walked to the cabinets of the kitchen and opened them. As he did, he could hear wild giggling getting louder behind him. Roxas turned just in time to see Xemnas running, practically tripping, in, sliding across the white floor, laughing the entire time.

"Hurry _up,_ Demmy!" Xemnas screeched impatiently as he began to slide uncontrollably across the floor. He fell, lightly bumping into a wall nearby, and climbed unsteadily to his feet. He simply giggled again.

"Fun, fun!" he shrieked, "Demmy! _Demmy!_ Come _on!_ Hungry!" Demyx walked in, appearing extremely tired.

"Oh, hi, Roxas," he said wearily, dragging his feet.

"Maybe you should get someone _else_ to look after Xemnas for a while," Roxas suggested.

"No, no, I'm fine," he replied good naturedly, yawning, "It's just that he woke up a little too early, that's all…"

"Well, if you say so," Roxas shrugged, quickly gathering his meal, and eyeing Xemnas the whole time. Taking his food and drink, he hurried out, only saying, "Good luck."

Demyx watched the toddler dashing around, trying to reach anything, _everything,_ that he could. He was left alone with a _hyper, toddler_ Xemnas. Again.


	4. The Morning's Events

Chapter IV

-The Morning's Events-

"Xemnas, _please!"_ Demyx pleaded, "You wanted that cereal, so you really should eat it. Not _just_ the little marshmallows."

"Bleh!" the toddler spat, "I don't _like_ the other stuff! It's _yucky!"_

"It's not, er… 'yucky', it's good! Really!" he said, "Besides, you're gonna be hungry later…"

"Gonna have lotsa _snacks_ later!" Xemnas replied, as if it were a threat.

"Don't think so," Demyx answered, resting his chin on his fist.

"I wan' it," he said flatly.

"Nope."

"_Want it."_

"Uh-uh," Demyx shook his head with a grin. Xemnas crossed his arms and turned away, but not before pushing his bowl, as far as his short arms could reach, away from him. Rolling his eyes, the Melodious Nocturne grabbed the bowl and placed it back down in front of the small boy.

"Last chance," he warned.

"Hmph," was the only reply.

"Okay…" Demyx said, slowly pulling the cereal away, "I'm taking it away now…" No response. "I'm lifting it off the table…" Xemnas stubbornly lifted his nose as high as he could. "Gonna throw it away…" The tiny nobody twitched nervously as Demyx walked across the room to the trash can, opening it. "I'm about to dump it in the trash…" Xemnas jumped up, and hurried over to him.

"Okay! I finish! You see!" he screeched.

"You sure?"

"Uh-huh." Once again showing the energy he had shown lately, he ran back to the table, scrambling into his seat. With a smile of triumph, Demyx put Xemnas' breakfast down, as the little Superior snatched his spoon. He wasn't sure if that would actually work.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Vexen, what are you doing?"

"I am trying to figure out how to fitth thith," the small blond replied, nodding toward the large machine in front of him.

"Will you finish it, soon?"

"You have athked me that _many_ timeth now, Thetthion," he sighed, "Further more, I haven't theen _you_ trying to help me in any way."

"That is _because_ I do _not_ know _how_ to," Zexion replied, annoyed, "Besides, I _thought_ that _Lexaeus_ was going to help you."

"Are _you_ going to wake him up?" Vexen asked, narrowing his green eyes. Zexion shook his head, his eyes widened.

"I didn't _fink_ tho. I would _not_ want to wake him up after what happened earlier thith morning…"

"What happened?"

"I got up too early… and Letthaeus… didn't theem to like that very much," he explained.

"Then... if he was upset earlier about that, would he not be upset now?" Zexion thought aloud, crossing his arms. Vexen paused, his eyes huge.

"I do not know…" he said softly, staring blankly forward, then glanced quickly around.

"It _is_ about time get up, now, though," Zexion reasoned. He shrugged. After a few moments, Vexen returned to examining the large, black machine.

"I am not entirely thure _how_ to fitth it," he admitted, "but I do hope that I can figure it out thoon…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hold still, Axel! I've almost got it!"

"Do I have to, Xion? It hurts!"

"How did you get your hair so tangled in one night?" she asked.

"Dunno… but are you done _yet?"_ Axel whined.

"No, not quite. Sorry," Xion apologized. The red head groaned.

"It hurts, _and_ it's boring!" he moaned, "I wanna play with Roxas!"

"Soon, don't… worry…" she grunted, jerking the brush hard through a powerful red tangle.

"_Ow!"_ he yelled, trying to pull away, but Xion grabbed his arm.

"Hold on a sec, the brush is stuck," she said, attempting to pull it out.

"_What? Ow, ow, OUCH! STOP!"_ he pleaded, _"It… hurts!"_

"It will be in a moment, honest," she replied, finally pulling it out. With a deep sigh, she asked, "All better?"

"Uh-huh," he whimpered, rubbing his sore head.

"I'm _so_ sorry, Axel," she apologized again, as Roxas stepped in.

"What's going on?" he inquired. Before she could answer, Axel jumped down and ran to him.

"Let's just go and play now, okay? I wanna play _now,"_ he begged, tugging on Roxas' sleeve. Roxas raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xion as Axel dragged him out of the room.


End file.
